The Rascal King
Sep 06 2001, 08:59am
(I got the following message in a pm, and decided it would benefit everyone to have it on the board, so here it is)
SonicRanger wrote on 09-05-2001 10:58 PM:
...When you have time I would appreciate (if you want) a list of what I need to CORRECTLY (price is really not a concern) to do this swap to my 93 2.3L Ranger. Any and all necessary parts, as well as what would be the best years of motors to find.
Well, it's not quite that easy. As with most things like this, there's more than one way to do it, and one isn't necessarily any more "right" than another. It depends on the goals of the swap, the mechanical skill of the one doing the swap, and the budget.
A few things to note:
1. Most of the guys in the 2.3T community are there because this is an engine you don't have to shower money on to make power. They then stay because they're onery and like embarassing people with a 4 cylinder. Why does this matter? Because the vast majority of the Ranger (and other) swaps, as well as "native" 2.3T buildups, are done with a "make do with whatcha got" attitude.
2. The reason a Ranger swap makes so much sense is because the Ranger 2.3 block and the turbo 2.3 block popped out of the same mold. Meaning that all the bolt holes, and even sizes, are the same. The differences have been detailed in other threads, but the main one is the pistons - the turbo engines used forged pistons that yield an 8:1 compression ratio, the naturally aspirated engines used cast then hypereutectic pistons that yield a 9.5:1 compression ratio.
3. However, as noted in many other threads, the location of the turbo on the 2.3T exhaust manifold will interfere with A/C on a Ranger. Solutions to this vary from starting with a non-A/C truck (which is what I did) to having a custom header built to place the turbo in a more A/C friendly location. Even in a truck without A/C, such as mine, the turbo sits right against the heater box, requiring modification. Again, this is detailed in other threads.
So, with that said, here's the list I'd give:
Required:
2.3T engine (as complete as possible) - from any 83-88 T-bird Turbo Coupe, 85-89 Merkur XR4Ti, 84-86 Mustang SVO, 84 Mustang GT Turbo, or 84-85 Capri RS Turbo; "Best" would be an 86 SVO or 87-88 TC but as has been said before they're all (well, all the EFI ones, anyway) fundamentally the same, so I wouldn't pass up a good deal because it wasn't the "best".
Exhaust - Hooking the turbo to the stock 2" exhaust can be done, but I wouldn't. My recommendation is to get at least the downpipe (the pipe leading from the turbocharger to the catalytic converter, if present) custom fabricated in 3" pipe. I'm not sure if any of the SVO or TC downpipes will work on a Ranger, but I'd think they'd be marginal solutions at best anyway. I went 3" all the way, including the muffler (stick with a straight-through design like the Dynomax Ultraflow or Hooker Aerochamber), but necking down to 2.5" after the downpipe shouldn't hurt you too much.
Computer - I've listed all the ones I'm aware of and their application in other threads, but the "best" one is the PE computer from the 85.5 & 86 SVO. Running a very close second is the LA3 from the 5 speed 87-88 TC (which is what I'm using).
Computer Pinouts (for both the 93 Ranger and the turbo computer of your choice - I don't have the Ranger pinouts (available from Helm Inc. (http://www.helm.com)), but I can find most if not all of the turbo computers.
I'd say that's all that's absolutely necessary. From there you get into making it what you want it to be, through turbo choice, intercooler choice and placement, transmission choice, etc etc etc.
Any questions? I hope this helps...
SonicRanger wrote on 09-05-2001 10:58 PM:
...When you have time I would appreciate (if you want) a list of what I need to CORRECTLY (price is really not a concern) to do this swap to my 93 2.3L Ranger. Any and all necessary parts, as well as what would be the best years of motors to find.
Well, it's not quite that easy. As with most things like this, there's more than one way to do it, and one isn't necessarily any more "right" than another. It depends on the goals of the swap, the mechanical skill of the one doing the swap, and the budget.
A few things to note:
1. Most of the guys in the 2.3T community are there because this is an engine you don't have to shower money on to make power. They then stay because they're onery and like embarassing people with a 4 cylinder. Why does this matter? Because the vast majority of the Ranger (and other) swaps, as well as "native" 2.3T buildups, are done with a "make do with whatcha got" attitude.
2. The reason a Ranger swap makes so much sense is because the Ranger 2.3 block and the turbo 2.3 block popped out of the same mold. Meaning that all the bolt holes, and even sizes, are the same. The differences have been detailed in other threads, but the main one is the pistons - the turbo engines used forged pistons that yield an 8:1 compression ratio, the naturally aspirated engines used cast then hypereutectic pistons that yield a 9.5:1 compression ratio.
3. However, as noted in many other threads, the location of the turbo on the 2.3T exhaust manifold will interfere with A/C on a Ranger. Solutions to this vary from starting with a non-A/C truck (which is what I did) to having a custom header built to place the turbo in a more A/C friendly location. Even in a truck without A/C, such as mine, the turbo sits right against the heater box, requiring modification. Again, this is detailed in other threads.
So, with that said, here's the list I'd give:
Required:
2.3T engine (as complete as possible) - from any 83-88 T-bird Turbo Coupe, 85-89 Merkur XR4Ti, 84-86 Mustang SVO, 84 Mustang GT Turbo, or 84-85 Capri RS Turbo; "Best" would be an 86 SVO or 87-88 TC but as has been said before they're all (well, all the EFI ones, anyway) fundamentally the same, so I wouldn't pass up a good deal because it wasn't the "best".
Exhaust - Hooking the turbo to the stock 2" exhaust can be done, but I wouldn't. My recommendation is to get at least the downpipe (the pipe leading from the turbocharger to the catalytic converter, if present) custom fabricated in 3" pipe. I'm not sure if any of the SVO or TC downpipes will work on a Ranger, but I'd think they'd be marginal solutions at best anyway. I went 3" all the way, including the muffler (stick with a straight-through design like the Dynomax Ultraflow or Hooker Aerochamber), but necking down to 2.5" after the downpipe shouldn't hurt you too much.
Computer - I've listed all the ones I'm aware of and their application in other threads, but the "best" one is the PE computer from the 85.5 & 86 SVO. Running a very close second is the LA3 from the 5 speed 87-88 TC (which is what I'm using).
Computer Pinouts (for both the 93 Ranger and the turbo computer of your choice - I don't have the Ranger pinouts (available from Helm Inc. (http://www.helm.com)), but I can find most if not all of the turbo computers.
I'd say that's all that's absolutely necessary. From there you get into making it what you want it to be, through turbo choice, intercooler choice and placement, transmission choice, etc etc etc.
Any questions? I hope this helps...